AQR Capital Management LLC Buys 146,792 Shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. $AWK

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK - Free Report) by 277.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 199,704 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 146,792 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.10% of American Water Works worth $29,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AWK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 881.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,704,995 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $546,562,000 after buying an additional 3,327,352 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 24.1% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,532,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $668,566,000 after buying an additional 878,951 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 114.3% during the first quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,505,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,296,000 after buying an additional 802,639 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of American Water Works during the first quarter valued at approximately $103,053,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of American Water Works by 20,534.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 615,306 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $90,770,000 after buying an additional 612,324 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.58% of the company's stock.

American Water Works Stock Performance

Shares of AWK traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $140.07. The stock had a trading volume of 725,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,062,878. The firm has a market cap of $27.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.24, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $142.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $142.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.32. American Water Works Company, Inc. has a 52 week low of $118.74 and a 52 week high of $155.50.

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $1.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.22 billion. American Water Works had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 10.34%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. American Water Works has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.700-5.750 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that American Water Works Company, Inc. will post 5.71 EPS for the current year.

American Water Works Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.8275 per share. This represents a $3.31 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. American Water Works's payout ratio is presently 59.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on AWK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on American Water Works from $147.00 to $141.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on American Water Works from $138.00 to $128.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Argus boosted their price objective on American Water Works from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Wall Street Zen cut American Water Works from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on American Water Works from $156.00 to $151.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $143.30.

About American Water Works

American Water Works Company, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides water and wastewater services in the United States. It offers water and wastewater services to approximately 1,700 communities in 14 states serving approximately 3.5 million active customers. The company serves residential customers; commercial customers, including food and beverage providers, commercial property developers and proprietors, and energy suppliers; fire service and private fire customers; industrial customers, such as large-scale manufacturers, mining, and production operations; public authorities comprising government buildings and other public sector facilities, such as schools and universities; and other utilities and community water and wastewater systems.